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Post by archivist on Oct 20, 2022 8:13:01 GMT -5
I'm curious to hear what kind of hardware for listening to or recording cassettes you all use.
I'm looking to produce my own cassettes in the future so I'd love to get an idea of the kind of hardware that is generally used for recording dungeon synth/extreme metal on this medium.
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engraven
Fighter
No heroes. No lords.
Posts: 119
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Post by engraven on Oct 21, 2022 9:54:15 GMT -5
Are you looking for like a tape recorder to record your music straight to? or a tape deck for playback and dubbing of copies of a tape?
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Post by repede94 on Oct 21, 2022 22:26:50 GMT -5
I've had several decks (most of which have been charming, but unreliable). Can't remember the model, but a nice little dual-well Sony unit was my go-to until it became part of "the garage setup." For the price, the Kenwood KX decks are great, awesome for listening to two double-sided tapes in a row and have great sound quality, if a bit tinny on recording.
I currently have a Fisher deck that makes decent recordings, though no auto-reverse. After being sick of messing with unreliable decks, I bought a Nak which has been awesome, and if you're a tape nut I recommend saving up several hundred to get one. From what I understand, the older Harman/Kardon units are great too. I have an old three-head one that I found at a local thrift, and they traded me a bunch of games and other stereo stuff for it (instead of the $300 price tag). Good thing too, because it sounds like crap due to worn-out heads.
Anyway, feel free to post some thoughts on what unit you're looking to get and we can chime in. Tapeheads is also a great community and infinitely knowledgeable about this sort of thing.
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Post by archivist on Oct 26, 2022 13:06:00 GMT -5
Are you looking for like a tape recorder to record your music straight to? or a tape deck for playback and dubbing of copies of a tape? I don't know the extent of what this kind of technology is capable of but what I'd hope to find is something that I could use for playback as well as recording from my computer directly onto a cassette in stereo (unless cassettes can only record in mono) and then dub that cassette to make copies.
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engraven
Fighter
No heroes. No lords.
Posts: 119
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Post by engraven on Oct 26, 2022 13:24:52 GMT -5
Ok yeah, a tape deck. Any decent deck should be able to be rigged up to record from your computer. I output my computer audio through an interface, and then run audio cables from the interface's output straight into my deck's input. I've got a Nakamichi BX-100 tape deck, and this setup works very well. Anything by Nakamichi is going to work well, the BX-100 is one of the cheaper models you can find and it does the job splendidly. (I use a Universal Audio Twin USB interface, but literally any interface will work. You just need to check what your tape deck accepts as an input and what the interface is able to output through -- my tape deck only inputs RCA cables, and my interface outputs either XLR or 1/4 inch, so I had to get some 1/4 inch-to-RCA cables.)
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Post by lolth on Nov 16, 2022 23:09:43 GMT -5
I mostly listen and dub on my tape deck (a Fisher PH-W5000), which I just found at my grandparent's house about a year ago. I also have a cheap Jensen walkman that does great for headphone/earbud listening. I enjoy the soft tape hiss that comes with the cheap stuff.
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